Filmmaking, Leadership, Self-Development

Making your very own movie: the holy grail of filmmakers.

Or at least, that’s how I felt (and do still, to an extent) about making a feature film. I saw it as this grand idea, a distant and unreachable star on the horizon. Producing a feature seemed somewhat unattainable, and getting it distributed even more so (that was a mystery of its own – one I covered in this article).

What I will not be covering in this series are the technical or filmmaking skills I learned during this process. Explaining that could take many thousands of additional words to explain, as the lessons were many.

I will be outlining, generally, how creating a feature film improved me as a person, including weaknesses I strengthened and life-skills (‘soft skills’) I learned. I will explain why these things are important generally, but also how they specifically apply to filmmakers.

I hope you will consider applying the lessons I learned in your own life. If nothing else, they will make you a better filmmaker. However, some of these lessons cannot be learned through any amount of reading, reflection, or video-watching.

I will be tackling many of the lessons learned during feature filmmaking, though not necessarily on any particular schedule.

Here are the topics, broken down by category:

Doing the stuff you don’t feel like doing

1. Don’t ask? Don’t expect anything to happen. When I started out as a filmmaker, sometimes I’d rather avoid confrontation and feared being denied, turned down, and rejected. However, I learned that the payoff for facing that discomfort can be great for your film and your personal development. You must learn to ask for things and not be afraid of the answer. As the saying goes, ‘the worst that can happen is they say no’.

2. Throw your hands up – if you want to fail. As anyone who’s made a film understands, you will face obstacle after obstacle. What can go wrong, will, and if you want your film to succeed, you must learn to persevere and push through those circumstances. The moment you give up is the moment you truly fail.

3. Sloths don’t shoot feature films. Learn to combat the lazy instinct we all have. Laziness is the root of many excuses to not do things we need to do. It gives us reasons to evade almost anything. Don’t be tricked by this instinct. We all have it, and there’s no shame in admitting as much, but you should learn to counter it.

Don’t be like this guy.

Walking tall while herding cats

1. Confidence is the pathway to results. The concept is pretty basic. Most people understand that a healthy amount of confidence is a good thing, and this applies equally for filmmakers. However, there are some specific elements to confidence that I’d like to cover – things that filmmaking has taught me.

2. Not being overwhelmed by the mob. Learning to effectively handle and be more comfortable working with large groups of people is a key element to success as a filmmaker and any team-oriented enterprise. In filmmaking, these skills are most often used for communication to groups, such as meetings and blocking extras, for example.

3. One-on-one communication. You will naturally improve at communicating with others the more you practice, but the more of a conscious effort you take to self-analyze your effectiveness and adjust, the better a filmmaker you will become.

4. Stubborn people, stubborn people everywhere! Dealing with difficult people is part of life. You know this, of course. So, logically, filmmaking is no exception. I’d argue that you are actually more likely to encounter many… interesting folks that you’ll have to work with, for one reason or another. This is something that we can all work at, and if we do, will make us better managers of people.

Reconciling blunders and avoiding perfectionism

1. Embrace mistakes and move forward. When something screws up and does not go according to plan, it’s frustrating, at least, and at most forces us to take another path altogether. Learn to think on your feet, and your circumstances won’t dictate your reaction. You can use the mistake to your advantage.

2. Expectations, meet real life. Okay, something went wrong, inevitably. How do you deal with that on set? You must learn to not become so attached to a particular outcome that you become bitter when things don’t turn out quite right. This is absolutely key for any artist. For filmmakers, the issue is compounded by the complexity of what we do and the potential for so many things to go wrong.

3. Perfect is the enemy of good. The old adage holds true: artists are their own harshest critics. We all desire to meet a standard of perfection. It’s one that is unattainable, and we know it. As a filmmaker, you must learn to move forward with an imperfect result when faced with real-world limitations. This will allow you to get things done and make concrete progress when your expectations and the reality go head-to-head.

Think of relationships, not transactions

This is very important. As an indie filmmaker, you will often be faced with the need to ‘beg, borrow, and steal’, by calling favors, asking for help, borrowing equipment, and so on. You don’t have to burn out your connections. In fact, you can ask for help while also building up your relationships by focusing on building and maintaining relationships.

Here’s my challenge to you: go out there and force yourself to do difficult things, make mistakes, and overcome challenges. Identify these weaknesses in your own life and tackle them. You will be better for it, and your films and sets will benefit greatly as well.

Good luck!